Executive summary

Climate change has been characterised as a ‘wicked problem’1 – a complex socio-technical issue, with no simple solution. Hence, our response must be multifaceted and cut across government policy, corporate responsibility, individual choices and social transformations.

Climate Futures: Youth Perspectives, a virtual Cumberland Lodge conference held over the course a fortnight in March 2021, gave young people a platform to express their climate ideas, visions and expectations ahead of the international PreCOP26 Youth4Climate summit in Milan and COP26, the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference taking place in Glasgow in November 2021. Young people from schools, colleges, universities and youth organisations, across the UK and around the world, met online with civil servants, charity representatives, activists, community practitioners and academics, to explore different perspectives on, and priorities for, climate futures. During the conference, delegates had the chance to hear from a raft of high-profile speakers, to take part in live polls and question-and-answer sessions, and to join intergenerational breakout-room discussions. This report combines our pre-conference briefing with a conference statement prepared by the young people who took part in these discussions, outlining their key concerns and priorities for action. Part I sets out the state of our knowledge of climate science and provides an overview of the key impacts of climate change, before presenting current research and examples of action being taken in relation to key dimensions of the climate crisis. These include climate policy, climate education, green careers, individual and collective adaptation to change, and youth activism. Part II summarises key themes of discussion from the Cumberland Lodge conference, and presents our practical, policy-focused recommendations for climate action. An estimated 1.2 billion young people were born between 1997 and 2006.2 They were born after scientific consensus and government commitments on climate change, and they have lived their entire lives with the climate crisis looming over their futures. Every day, young